Long Walk Off A Short Pier
by Aviv b
Summary: Ianto is have bizarre nightmares.


**Written for **redisourcolor**** **Challenge 24 on LJ, the prompts were a picture of a pier, **the words**:** **false, evening, pride, salt, witness, **and the phrase: **"Make it stop!"**

* * *

><p>He gasped as he sat up in bed. His heart was pounding and his hair was plastered to his head. Before he realized where he was, he heard Jack's voice.<p>

"Hey, its okay, I've got you," Jack whispered as he put his arms around Ianto. Ianto let out the breath he was holding. "Another nightmare?"

"Same nightmare," Ianto croaked. "Every damn night this week I've had the same nightmare and I've woken up at exactly the same moment."

"Want to talk about it?"

"What's there to say? I dream I'm walking out to the end of an old wooden pier. I look down and suddenly the pier is gone. I fall into the cold salt water and I'm surrounded by blowfish. They circle around me biting and scaping until I'm sure I'm dying. I enter this dark tunnel, and there's nothing. Nothing at all. And then I feel this tingling, or maybe humming sensation and I gasp and then I wake up."

Ianto wiped his sweaty face in frustration. Four nights in a row he had had the same dream. Four nights he woke up feeling terrified and bereft. "I think I'm losing my mind."

"The mind's a funny thing. You are obviously working through something, maybe something from your subconscious memory," Jack speculated. "Did you ever have a near drowning experience that you can remember? A close call with a blowfish? Almost get eaten by a sea monster?"

"No, no, and almost once a week if we include all monsters," Ianto answered. "But, I don't think weevils have anything to do with it," Ianto replied as he tried to smile.

Jack continued to pepper Ianto with questions about his experiences swimming in the ocean, playing on the beach as a child, even fishing off a pier. But when he asked the question about Ianto's feelings toward the movie 'Finding Nemo,' Ianto had had enough.

"This is ridiculous, no more questions," Ianto huffed as he got out of bed.

"Hey, its 3 AM, where are you going?"

"To sleep on the couch since you won't stop asking me questions."

"Come on Ianto, I'm only trying to help."

"You're not."

"Then tell me what you want me to do," Jack asked in frustration.

"Make it stop, dammit. And if you can't do that, then just leave me in peace," Ianto retorted as he stormed out of the bedroom.

Jack flung himself back against the pillows. This was beginning to worry him. He'd never seen Ianto so irritated and out-of-sorts before. And the dream made him anxious. It sounded an awful lot like what Jack experienced when he died.

Jack knew that Ianto had tested as mildly empathic and his brain registered some unusual psi readings, but Jack was certain that he wasn't bleeding his own thoughts over to Ianto. He sensed something was invading Ianto's brain and he knew that Ianto needed help soon as there was no way to tell how dangerous the intrusions might be.

Ianto couldn't say he was surprised when Jack ordered Owen to perform a full physical on him. For over an hour, Owen poked and prodded him, measured and weighed him, took blood and urine samples, and asked more questions.

"Paging Dr. Freud," Ianto snarked. "I had a perfectly normal childhood. My older sister was a brat, but she never tried to drown me in the bathtub. My father taught me to swim when I was seven and I have no fear of the ocean. I was not, am not, and don't anticipate being suicidal. I have no idea where this dream has come from and I don't honestly care. I just want it to stop."

Owen sighed. Psychological issues were really not his field of expertise. But he did know that sleep deprivation could make anyone irritable, even someone who was as emotionally steady as Ianto. "Assuming these tests are all normal, I'm going to give you a sleeping aid. Maybe we can break the dream-wake cycle and get you back to restful sleep."

"Yeah, that'd be nice," Ianto said as he yawned. "Sorry I'm being such a wanker, I just don't feel like myself."

Owen nodded. "No problem. For a minute I thought you were somehow channeling my emotions," he said with a wry smile, "but even I'm not this grouchy and disagreeable."

Ianto stared at him for a moment and then shook his head.

"What? What are you thinking?" Owen asked.

"Not sure, felt something go through me as you were speaking. It's hard to describe; like a feeling of uneasiness, like someone walking over my grave."

"Under other circumstances, I'd think that an alien had invaded your body, but I've already run a full MRI on you, and there's nothing abnormal. Go on, get out of here and try not to bite anyone's head off."

As Owen expected, all of Ianto's medical tests came out perfectly normal. Ianto agreed to have the tests run on a weekly basis if nothing changed. Owen gave Ianto some sleeping tablets and confirmed that Jack would be staying over with Ianto.

"Just make sure he takes those pills an hour before he expects to go to sleep. He's not to be on rift alert; if you need to go out in the middle of the night call someone else. Even if he seems awake he may not be fully aware. It's also possible that he may sleepwalk while on the medication. So keep his front door locked and hide his car keys, because in a few cases, patients have been found sleep-driving."

"Bad enough we have blowfish driving around in sports cars, we don't need to add sleep-driving Welshmen to the streets of Cardiff," Jack agreed.

That evening, under Jack's supervision, Ianto dutifully took the sleeping pills. An hour later he told Jack he felt tired and went into the bedroom to sleep. Jack opted to stay up and watch some television in the lounge. It wasn't long before Jack drifted asleep as well.

About two hours later, Jack was woken up by strange noises from Ianto's bedroom.

"No, get away from me, help, somebody help!"

Jack ran into the bedroom to find Ianto sitting up in bed, covered in sweat, eyes wide open, but totally unaware of his surroundings.

"Ianto, wake up," Jack yelled as he grabbed Ianto by the shoulders and shook him.

Ianto turned and stared at him. "It's the blowfish, they're trying to eat me."

"It's okay, just a dream," Jack said as he tried to sooth Ianto.

"No it's not," Ianto shouted as he pushed Jack away and ran out of the bedroom. Jack lost his balance and fell, hitting his head on the edge of the bedroom door. It stunned him only for a moment, but by then Ianto had grabbed his spare set of car keys out of the drawer of a small wooden console table in his entryway and was out the door. By the time Jack got to the lounge, he could see Ianto's car pulling away from the kerb and speeding down the street.

Jack ran from the flat, got into the SUV, and began to follow Ianto. Jack activated his comm and sent an emergency signal to Tosh and Owen. Tosh was back to him in less than a minute.

"Jack what's going on?"

"It's Ianto. He's sleep-driving. At least I'm pretty sure he's asleep. I'm following him but I have no idea where he's headed."

Tosh quickly activated the trackers for both the SUV and Ianto's auto. "He's heading southwest on the A4232. Did you say he was asleep?" she asked as she finally became awake enough herself to process what Jack had told her.

Jack heard two beeps on his mobile and Owen joined the conversation. "Yeah, that medication I gave him can do that. He's not really asleep or awake. Does he know you're following him?"

"Don't think so, but he's driving very fast. Owen what are the chances of him crashing?"

"About as good as any intoxicated driver. Just stay with him, we'll stay on with you in case something happens."

A little more than ten minutes later, Jack heard Tosh warn, "He's at the traffic circle coming up; oh he's going too fast…" Tosh's voice stopped for a moment. "He's alright, he almost lost control at the circle but he's taken the M4 ramp going west."

"Coming up to it right now," Jack said as he braked hard to prevent the SUV from entering the circle at too high of a speed. Unlike Ianto's car, the SUV was more prone to roll and he couldn't afford to loose control of the van, even if that meant losing sight of Ianto.

"He's still on the M4," Tosh told Jack a few minutes later. "Can't imagine where he's going."

"Jack," Owen interrupted a few minutes later, "did Ianto say anything before he ran out to his car?"

Jack explained Ianto's nightmare to Owen and Tosh including the attack by the blowfish.

"What else to you remember him telling you about the dreams?" Owen prodded.

"Not much, they're always pretty much the same, he's walking on an old wooden pier, and…"

"That's it! A wooden pier; he's headed to a wooden pier," Owen cried.

"And that would be…" Jack began.

"I have no idea," Owen admitted.

They could hear Tosh clicking on her computer in the background. "I do. I reckon he's heading toward Mumbles Pier in Swansea. If he is, he should be exiting the M4 at junction 42. He's just coming up to Port Talbot so that should be in about ten minutes. If he does, just follow him onto the Quay Parade and take the first exit onto Mumbles Road."

After almost exactly ten minutes, Ianto did turn off I42. Tosh let Jack know and when she confirmed that Ianto did appear to be headed toward Mumbles Pier, Jack felt he could breathe a little easier for the first time since Ianto ran out of his flat.

As he approached the exit, Jack began to speculate on what exactly was going on. "Do you think he's having a flashback to his childhood?"

"No I asked him that and he was adamant that this wasn't a flashback or a false memory. And he stopped when I..," Owen hesitated as he tried to recall the conversation in the medical bay. "I said something about him being so grouchy that he was channeling my emotions and he just stopped and kind of spaced out for a moment."

"Spaced-out, is that some kind of medical term?" Jack snarked as he turned onto Mumbles Road.

"He said something about someone walking over his grave," Owen added.

"I'm here," Jack said as he pulled the van next to Ianto's car. From the dim lights on the pier and the SUV headlights, he could just make out the outline of someone in the water.

"Damn, Ianto is in the water at the end of the pier. I'll get back to you," Jack shouted as he ripped off his earpiece, exited the car and began to run down to the waterline. He kept right on running, stumbling on the rocks under the water until he reached the end of the pier.

Standing in the water, soaking wet, Ianto was holding a young dark-haired woman in his arms. "She's dying," he said in a whisper. They carried her to the beach and it was only then that Jack could see that in addition to the many bite wounds on her torso she wasn't really a woman at all. The long curved tail with scales was unmistakable.

"She must be an alien; she looks just like a mermaid," Jack noted as he watched her breathing falter.

Ianto knelt and pushed the hair off of her face. "I don't know if she's an alien, but we Welsh call her a Gwragedd Annwn, a lake maiden. My Mam used to tell me stories about them, but even in centuries past it was rare to see one. The last reported sighting was over two hundred years ago."

Ianto felt her thoughts brush his mind. _"Grieve not, my child, my time is done. Old ways pass into new. Death is an end for me, but a beginning for you. Do not be sad. May your life be long, and your heart be glad. I give you my last gift for ending my torment. Do what needs to be done. Lay me to rest." _

The woman opened her eyes for a moment and as Ianto looked into her eyes, he felt the strange sensation he had described to Owen as 'someone walking over his grave.' She gasped once and was still. Ianto leaned over and closed her eyes. He stood and looked at Jack.

"What just happened there?" Jack asked.

"Not sure really. I heard her voice just now. The same voice from my dream. She was tied to the pier. I think whoever left her there reckoned that she'd eventually be eaten by other sea creatures."

Ianto didn't think it was worth mentioning that in some Celtic myths, mermaids were said to be immortal. For all he knew, she could have been dying and regenerating against the pier for over a hundred years. That was something that could only bring grief to Jack as he faced his own road of immortality. He was relieved that they had only witnessed the very end of her suffering.

"Did she speak to you just now, Ianto? I felt thoughts brush against my mind, but I couldn't decipher them at all."

"She said her time was done and not to be sad. And she said we should take her back to the water and lay her to rest." Ianto did not tell Jack about the mermaid giving him a gift. He had no idea what, if anything, she had meant by that.

The sky was just beginning to lighten as Jack and Ianto wrapped the mermaid in a blanket from the SUV. They called Owen and Tosh who arrived several hours later with the spare SUV towing a small boat.

Ianto insisted on rowing the mermaid out in the boat by himself. From the shore they could hear Ianto singing as he lowered the body into the water. His clear tenor filled the air as he sung:

_Ar Hyd Y Nos:_  
><em>Holl amrantau'r sêr ddywedant<br>Ar hyd y nos.  
>Dyma'r ffordd i fro gogoniant<br>Ar hyd y nos.  
>Golau arall yw tywyllwch,<br>I arddangos gwir brydferthwch,  
>Teulu'r nefoedd mewn tawelwch<br>Ar hyd y nos._

O mor siriol gwena seren  
>Ar hyd y nos,<br>I oleuo'i chwaer ddaearen  
>Ar hyd y nos,<br>Nos yw henaint pan ddaw cystudd,  
>Ond i harddu dyn a'i hwyrddydd<br>Rhown ein golau gwan i'n gilydd  
>Ar hyd y nos. *<p>

Ianto rowed back to shore and he and Jack drove back to Cardiff in Jack's SUV. Tosh drove the second SUV and Owen drove Ianto's car. Ianto slept all the way back to Cardiff, not awakening until Jack shook him gently when they got to his flat.

Owen came in with them and waited until Jack had stripped the wet sweat pants and t-shirt off of Ianto and helped him to shower. Dressed in another tee and cotton pants, Ianto didn't complain when Owen gave him an examination. "Did you have any nightmares on the drive back?"

"No, I feel fine, except I feel so tired," Ianto said covering a yawn with his fist.

Jack helped Ianto into bed and then went to confer with Owen. "He's fine, Jack. Better than fine. I can't explain it, but he seems healthier than he did yesterday and I don't mean just as compared to him being in a sleep deprived state. Guess that's Torchwood for you," Owen said shrugging.

"Stay with him today," Owen continued, "Gwen will monitor the rift while Tosh and I grab a few hours of sleep. But if there's any change in his condition, or any more nightmares, call me immediately."

After Owen left, Jack went into the bedroom and sat on the bed watching Ianto sleep. Jack had to agree that Ianto really did look fine. Jack chuckled as he thought that Ianto looked even younger than usual, if that was possible. But Jack reasoned that deep sleep and not having to worry about nightmares had removed all the stress from Ianto's face.

Ianto slept twelve hours and then awoke feeling better than he had felt in a long time. He never had another nightmare in his life. He also never had another cold, or sore throat, or any illness of note.

It was only about ten years later that an innocent comment from Gwen made Ianto realize just how good he really did feel. She had found a grey hair on her head that morning and was not happy.

Ianto tried to cheer her up by noting that she looked fantastic and given that she was a mother of two rambunctious children, it wasn't surprising that they were giving her a few grey hairs.

Gwen laughed. "Oi, well said by the man who hasn't aged a day in ten years. Don't look at me like that, you haven't. I get why Jack doesn't age, but its disgusting that you look exactly as you did when you were in your early twenties." She walked away grumbling on the unfairness of how women aged as compared to men.

Ianto felt a bit unbalanced for a moment and turned to see Jack watching him carefully. Jack smiled, nodded and retreated to his office. Finally, Ianto realized what had happened. He followed Jack back to his office.

"Did you know? You had to know."

"I suspected something but I didn't know for sure. Owen has told me that you literally haven't aged a day since your meeting with the mermaid. I know that you are well versed in Welsh folk lore. So you knew that mermaids, at least according to legend, could grant wishes. What I don't understand, is why you asked her for immortality, Ianto. You know how I dread it; why would you want it for yourself?"

"I didn't. My last thought when she was alive was that I didn't want you to be alone for all eternity and die amongst strangers like she did."

Jack was filled with conflicting emotions as he looked at Ianto. "Only you would think about someone else at a moment like that. You are amazing Mr. Jones," Jack told him with pride.

And then the grief hit him. "And look what it's brought you. Now you'll have to live forever. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy let alone my lover and best friend."

Ianto looked at Jack sadly. Then the tiniest smile appeared on his face. "Eternity with you. Better than a long walk off a short pier, at any rate."

"Oh, it will be much better than that. You'll never get bored of me, I won't let that happen," Jack teased.

"I don't think I'll get tired of you per se, but if you think I'm picking up after you for all that time, you have another thing coming," Ianto quipped. "Now where did you leave your coffee cup?"

"Up in the boardroom," Jack admitted a bit embarrassed. "I'll try Ianto, just give me some time. It's been a while since I've done the domestic thing." Jack began to nervously straighten the papers on his desk.

"Jack," Ianto said and then waited for Jack to look up at him.

What?"

"As long as you don't take an eternity learning how, I think we'll be fine."

*English Translation of the poem  
>(This is not the Harold Boulton lullaby version that most people are familiar with, but a more literal translation of the Welsh,)<br>© Cymdeithas Madog 18 Mawrth/March 2000

All Through the Night  
>All the star's eyelids say,<br>All through the night,  
>"This is the way to the valley of glory,"<br>All through the night.  
>Any other light is darkness,<br>To exhibit true beauty,  
>The Heavenly family in peace,<br>All through the night.

O how cheerful smiles the star,  
>All through the night,<br>To light its earthly sister,  
>All through the night.<br>Old age is night when affliction comes,  
>But to beautify man in his late days,<br>We'll put our weak light together,  
>All through the night.<p> 


End file.
